Butterfly Wings

A couple of weeks ago, my coworker and I were discussing homemade halloween costumes. She has an 18 month old and didn't want to buy her a costume. I got really into the idea of making a costume (shocking, I know) and started thinking about it. We had been talking about making a set of wings for her little girl and my brain kept working on it.

So, as often happens when my brain is already working on a craft project, eventually my hands got into it too and Wednesday evening I constructed the wings.

I took 2 wire hangers and bent them into a wing shape. Then i bent the hook down and duct-taped the two together.

I wrapped it really well (with clear duct-tape b/c that's what I had on hand) so that it was sturdy.

Next I cut the legs from a pair of (new) nylons and slipped them over the wings. I gathered them at the center and wrapped the excess around the join. This provided a bit of padding, which was a bonus.


I sewed 2 strips of 1/2 inch elastic into circles and slipped them over the wings for arm straps. I hot-glued them down, then started wrapping the join with ribbon, hot-gluing as I went. I covered the straps as best I could.


Then I painted the wings with acrylic craft paint and voila!


My coworker and her husband loved it and after some initial hesitation their little girl loved them too. Her mom had made her some antennae from pipe cleaners and attached them to a headband to complete the butterfly costume. They brought her in at lunch yesterday to see everyone (and gather arm-loads of loot!) and she looked so adorable!